Sarah Baartman was a Khoikhoi woman who was exhibited as a freak show attraction in 19th-century Europe under the name Hottentot Venus.
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Sarah Baartman Real Photo
Sarah Baartman History
Saartjie Sara Baartman was one of the first black women known to be subjugated to human sex trafficking.
She was invectively named the “Hottentot Venus” by Europeans as her body would be publicly examined and exposed inhumanly throughout her young life.
Sarah died on December 29, 1815, but her exhibition continued.
Baartman’s brain, skeleton and sexual organs remained on display in a Paris museum until 1974. Her remains weren’t repatriated and buried until 2002.
Brought to Europe apparently on false pretences by a British doctor, she was paraded around “freak shows” in London and Paris, with crowds invited to look at her large buttocks.
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In October 1810, although illiterate, Baartman allegedly signed a contract with English ship surgeon William Dunlop and mixed-race entrepreneur Hendrik Cesars, in whose household she worked, saying she would travel to England to take part in shows.
The reason was that Baartman, also known as Sara or Saartjie, had a condition called “steatopygia”, resulting in extremely protuberant buttocks due to a build-up of fat.
Sarah Baartman Plaster Cast
The naturalist Georges Cuvier, who had danced with Baartman at one of Reaux’s parties, made a plaster cast of her body before dissecting it.
The 1816 complete cast in plaster of Saartjie Baartman was displayed amid a ceremony at the South African Embassy in Paris on April 29, 2002.
Sarah Baartman Birthday
Sarah Baartman was born in 1789 at Gamtoosrivier, South Africa. However, her exact date of birth is unknown.
Sarah Baartman STD
Baartman died aged 26. The cause was described as “inflammatory and eruptive disease”.
It’s since been suggested this was a result of pneumonia, syphilis or alcoholism.
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